Since the beginning of the offensive against Ukraine, the Moscow authorities have blocked more than 100,000 websites. A Russian teenager cannot freely go to Instagram or Tik Tok. Due to these moments of inactivity, Russians cannot watch the latest popular series on Netflix or other streaming services, reports El Periodico, as cited by Rador Radio Romania.

If you want an alternative to the official story, it becomes more and more difficult, as media operating in different languages, such as the BBC or Deutsche Welle, cannot be consulted from a Eurasian country.

Although most of the blockings are in response to the attempt of the Russian authorities to limit access to information, there are also companies that have decided to stop providing services to the Russian market since the beginning of the offensive against Ukraine. In total, since February 24, 2022, more than 100,000 sites have been blocked in Russia.

French consultant and analyst Denis Kolesnyk explains to EL PERIÓDICO that Moscow is interested in its own Internet “so that the authorities can better control information.”

Over the past 6 months, Roskomnadzor, the federal telecommunications authority, “blocked 85% more content than before.” In addition, according to this expert, by controlling the flow of information, the Kremlin has more opportunities to “spread propaganda, in addition to influencing public opinion in countries where the Russian language is still widespread, at least on the Internet.”

This includes former Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan in Central Asia, Belarus and Ukraine in Eastern Europe, and Armenia and Georgia in the South Caucasus. Although there have been talks for years about a “runet” (Russian Internet – n.tr) disconnected from the rest of the world, Kolesnyk believes that “it is currently unclear whether this possibility is technically realized.”

A great asset to avoid the increasingly severe restrictions is a VPN. Surfing the Russian Internet without this service is a journey through the desert if you want to have a lot of freedom of choice.

This allows you to bypass country restrictions by connecting your computer to a server in another country to make it appear that you are there, thereby affecting access to some pages and other configuration aspects. But such a program, a kind of “VIP pass” to a more diverse Internet, also suffered from limitations.

From Russia, it is now more difficult to download any app from this service, and the sites of some popular providers are not accessible from Russia without another VPN. This is another obstacle on the way of many Russians to free Internet.

China has used its excellent firewall model for years, preventing its citizens from accessing portals and services from abroad, such as major social networks and world-famous websites such as YouTube. In the organizational structure of the Chinese Internet, the Wechat application is the cornerstone of its cyberspace policy.

This super app allows citizens to send messages, make payments, play video games and many other functions. According to such mass media as Radio Free Europe, Russia is developing a similar service, its own “super application”.

Kolesnyk reminds that today there is already a somewhat similar Yandex application, which “combines various services, such as ordering food, car sharing, taxi.” This company is called the “Russian Google” because it started its journey on the Internet as a simple search engine. Currently, the relationship between the digital giant and the Russian government is not very good, as the refusal to provide information about its users to the intelligence services cost it a fine in 2023.

The French analyst believes that at the moment “there are no concrete details about the application similar to Wechat in Russia, but it is quite likely that such a move is something that is in line with Russian policy and its ambitions in this area.” Its existence will only allow “better control of what is done on the Internet and close access to any unruly citizens.”

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